Abenugongo

Born at the Brazilian Quarters of Lagos in 1934, Adebayo Yusuf Cameron Grillo was one of Nigeria’s most celebrated, educated and exposed contemporary artists. His lineage is traced to Nigerian-Brazilian grandparents who repatriated to their homeland after the abolition of the slave trade in the 20th century. He was sent to school early on and benefitted from the tutelage and artistic practices of the early modern art pioneers and masters like Aina Onabolu, Akinola Lasekan among others who were the first certified, British trained art educators in Nigeria. He would go on, in the 1950’s, to continue his art education at the Nigerian College of Art, Science and Technology (NCAST) where he obtained a Diploma in Fine Arts and a post-graduate Diploma in Art Education. He is a member of the famous Zaria Art Society (aka the Zaria Rebels) which led the path for a modern artistic definition for Nigerian art through the philosophy of “Natural Synthesis”. Grillo gained international recognition and acclaim while exhibiting a large collection of his early works in the 1960’s and 1970’s. His artistic style, classified as Stylized Naturalism, was very unique for its elongated figures and images rendered in elegant poses. His favorite rendition colours are blue, purple and green derived from the Yoruba chromatic tradition, he also mixes other colours on the wheel on different areas of his forms for enhanced aesthetic effects.

Grillo’s works probed the traditional style of wood carving of the Yoruba people and interpreted the forms into 2-dimensional paintings with different thematic appeals. His forms were characterized by their Yoruba dresses; presence of cultural relicts such as traditional drums, ritual staffs and accessories; and motifs of royal and economic statue which were all symbolic in identifying with the “Natural Synthesis” ideology of the Zaria Art Society. Abenugongo is a portrait of a mythical bald-headed Yoruba man dressed in Agbada, wearing a ritual necklace like a typical Babalawo, a native doctor. As common in Grillo’s images, the man’s body looks stretched with his face and neck longer than normal for a human being. He also lavishes different shades of purple and blue (2 of his favorite colours) on his body while he mixes brown and black for proper aesthetic effects on his neck and head regions.